While trawling through the endless source of entertainment that is Facebook, I stumbled across this little gem on a friend’s page:
None of us are 100% who we are 100% of the time. From faking a smile when we’ve had a really horrible day, to pretending to share with someone when we have ulterior motives, our masks are always hiding one thing: The truth.
Ego prevents us from living our truth. It will convince us that our mask protects us. But this false persona we put on to avoid getting hurt or feeling pain is the same one that block us from experiencing fulfillment.
Just as it is impossible to get a sun tan with a mask over your face, we cannot connect to the Light when we’re pretending to be who we are not.
When we bare our soul and stop hiding our garbage – our failed marriage, troubled relationships, financial fears or low self-esteem – we can create real connections with people. Not to mention, this also gives others a safe space to be who they are, because in all likeliness their fears and troubles are similar to our own.
It’s not an easy thing to do, but when we summon the strength to expose our weaknesses, we step outside ourselves and connect to the Light.
By removing our masks and living our truth, we allow the Light to shine upon us, and our own Light to shine upon others.
- Yehuda Berg
It all sounds very lovely, doesn’t it?
I kind of get the idea, but as is my wont, I’d like to offer an alternative point of view.
I agree wholeheartedly with the statement that none of us are 100% who we are 100% of the time.
I completely concur that the masks we all wear are hiding the truth.
The truth part is where Mr Berg and I part ways in our beliefs.
I believe that we are not 100% who we are 100% of the time, because if we were, the world would be a much uglier place than what it already is.
If we were all to lift our masks and be completely and utterly ourselves, I’m fairly certain that most of you would start disliking a hell of a lot of people around you, and being plain frightened of others.
Those masks we all wear are there to protect us.
Not from feeling pain or getting hurt.
They’re there to protect us from each other.
As a society, we’re expected to adhere to social “norms”, subscribe to behavioural patterns, and pander to certain emotional needs of those around us and ourselves.
We all wear masks to make sure that we appear to be playing along, rather than highlight how wrong we really are deep down inside.
All you need to do to confirm this, is to take notice of those that slip through the cracks, or simply don’t have the skill to construct such a mask.
You’ve got a guy in the U.S. being arrested for planning to kill, cook and eat women, starting with his wife.
So-called mass shootings perpetrated by seemingly “normal” functioning members of society happening worldwide.
I’m not saying that if we all took off our masks, we’d all start murdering everyone around us. Not all of us, anyway.
But imagine if you didn’t have to put on a fake smile just so you wouldn’t hurt someone’s feelings.
At the very least, imagine if you could say exactly what you felt like saying to everyone in any situation.
Imagine that instead of just saying the words that you’re going to kill someone because they’ve pissed you off, you actually go and do it.
A bit extreme, right?
I think you’d be surprised at the percentage of people who would do unspeakable things if there were no ramifications for committing those acts.
I’ve had a friend quite plainly declare that they wouldn’t commit a certain act, because they “wouldn’t want to be caught.” Not because the act was illegal, but because of the consequences.
On a personal level, I’ve seen the horrified looks I have received when letting out just a little of my truest inner thoughts to some people.
All because a lot of my thoughts don’t adhere to those social norms we all love to subject each other to.
Don’t worry, I’m not planning a shooting rampage or a cannibalistic feast just yet.
Just be secure in the knowledge that at the next party you attend, that guy or girl smiling at you from across the room is probably picturing ripping your limbs off like a kid tearing the wings off a fly, but their mask is protecting you.
I like to colour code my masks to complement the outfit.
I mean, nobody suspects the guy in the Hawaiian shirt, right?
Shoes – Julius Marlow
Jeans – Hugo Boss Orange
Shirt – Ted Baker
